4 Steps for Organizations to Evaluate the Effectiveness of their Training Programs

Training programs are an essential component of people development. However, it is not enough to only organize training programs. It is also necessary for organizations to understand how people learn from these programs, comprehend the training, and inculcate it into their day-to-day behaviors. Also, it is prudent to assess the impact of an organization’s training programs to save time, money, and efforts.

The A3I® model allows organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of their training programs. It aims to provide the crucial feedback, which helps organizations train their employees in an efficient manner. There are four levels in this model. Each level tackles specific learning processes to maximize the impact of a program. They are:

Appreciation - Awareness - Action - Impact

Appreciation: First impressions may not be the last, but they are critical indicators of how trainees receive and perceive the training. It is important to gauge people’s attentiveness, their levels of participation and interaction, and their emotional response to the training program. Their thoughts about the conductor of the program are also important. All these elements denote their level of appreciation for the program. Without appreciation, learning cannot begin.

Awareness: The second level evaluates the performance of trainees after the program. The newly acquired information is tested and whether it has been converted into knowledge or not is verified. This indicates the level of awareness of the trainees during the program. Their levels of confidence, motivation and competence with the newly acquired information is measured.

Application: The “Application” stage is critical in evaluating a trainee’s behavioral change. How much of the learnt knowledge is being applied and how? Are employees motivated after attending the training session? Is there a change in their performance? This evaluation allows the organization to assess the training program qualitatively. Behavior is a critical indicator of performance and a useful metric in judging the effectiveness of a training program.

Impact: Having received qualitative feedback, it is time to look at the numbers. At the Impact level, the return on investment (ROI) is reviewed. It is important to set the right parameters of evaluation during this process, or else, organizations can end up with the wrong results. But without a sound quantitative analysis, the impact of a training program cannot be understood. Data and prediction of development and apply systems like ‘Power BI’ will help organizations to build a quantitative analysis around training.

Using the School of Inspirational Leadership’s A³I® model of measuring training effectiveness, your organization can conduct training programs that are efficient and effective at the same time.

Blog Contributor -

Neeraj Deshpande
Specialist- Leadership & People Transformation Development
School of Inspirational Leadership